Cheap and fake excuse

• Iryna Khalip
• 4.09.2008, 10:48

Work with electorate is just a typical excuse. Party members can communicate with the nation when they want, nobody is hindering them.

For a few months already I have been hearing from the representatives of the oppositional parties the same: “elections” will be undemocratic, won’t comply with the standards of the OSCE, with the pressure on those who decided to participate, and the results would be rigged as usual.

But we should take part in this entanglement certainly, in order to have a possibility to work with voters and explain them the real situation in the country, as they won’t be said about that on TV, and only personal contact would help ignorant voters to understand what’s going on.

Almost every week after the candidates of initiative groups are not registered, somebody gets fired, somebody is intimidated, and they gather for an emergency meeting and decide: the regime acts boorishly, but we are to wait still, as we have a possibility to communicate with voters, and we would be able to withdraw candidates as a sign of protest at the supreme moment.

For instance, Anatol Lyabedzka told on air of Radio Svaboda that he personally had visited several thiousands of apartments and collected 500 signatures. Anatol, do tot tell about that to anyone anymore, you would be laughed down. To visit several thousands households (several thousands means at least three I suppose), and more than one person lives in each apartment, and mostly three-four, and you have squeezed just 500 signatures from these thousands of people? I would say, it’s rather a lousy result. Once again it demonstrates that the people care not a snap for the elections and for the United Democratic Forces represented by Anatol. It must be said however, for me, as for those dwellers of the several thousands apartment, the UDF is the same senseless abbreviation as the CIS, for instance. It does not exist in realty, it had been devise by nobody knows whom and no one knows for what aim; it does not influence anything and does not interest anybody. It is the same losing project as the participation of the parties in the “elections”.

I understand perfectly well why Lyabedzka’s visits to people were unsuccessful. Anatol is knocking on the door of a voter. The voter asks: “Who are you?” Lyabedzka answers: “I am an oppositional politician, I want to explain you how Lukashenka deceives you. There is no parliament, it is just a pocket Lukashenka’s notebook, and the elections are a farce. The opposition won’t be allowed to become parliament members, and the results of the voting are to be rigged. That is why please sign for me, as I am taking part in this”. What the voter’s answer will be? Naturally, he says that if the situation is as bed, he won’t give his signature, and won’t take part in the vote at all. And for you, the voter would say, it should be below you to take part in all this, if you understand the situation well. So get out of here. And the door is shut.

So the work with electorate is a usual excuse. Firstly, they are not hampered by anybody in their communicating with people when they want. But they prefer to do that strictly in time appointed by the regime. So they come to the people once in four years, like the Olympic Games. The reason must be for the voters to understand that to see Lyabedzka and Kalyakin is a real holiday. And secondly, why should they work with the voters at all? It makes sense in democratic countries, where parliaments exist and elections are held, where people come to polling stations and cast their votes, because they understand that the result of the elections depends on every vote. But everything is different in the dictatorship. If some part of the electorate hasn’t understood anything over the 14 years of Lukashenka’s dances, they won’t understand anything ever. They will do what they are told by their chiefs always, without thinking over why they are doing that. And they would be always content, if there is no war, and they have a piece of fried pork rind and a shot of vodka, no matter who is the ruler. It is not advisable to meddle with this part of the population. Force should be spared for real work. It is also pointless to “work” with those who is absolutely pleased with the current regime, they feel good, and the well-fed cannot understand the hungry; and the same is with those who hate it. These people already have their views, and they know everything. Lyabedzka’s appearance at the threshold of their apartment won’t change their lives. And the lives of Lukashenka and his entourage could considerably change after the party members’ active work.

All the oppositionists who are trying to fight their way into the “chamber of representatives” admit: they have a chance to get there, only if there would be Lukashenka’s political decision about that. The West whispers: dear high-ranking officers of the “prison”, please put at lease one of them there, and we’ll recognize the regime. Unfortunately, it is so. And I agree with Anatol Lyabedzka who says that the West is tired, they do not know how to influence the situation in Belarus, as all the mechanisms are used up. The West is tired indeed. I imagine some rapporteur on Belarus, who condemned the arrest of youth leaders a day before, and now welcomes Kazulin’s release, is sitting in his office watching the sunset and saying to himself: “My God, I am so terribly tired of all this Belarus!..” But why should their tiredness bother us? It’s their problem. In a free world one can choose: if you are tired of hopeless Belarus, you can start working with promising Ukraine, for instance. I do not feel sorry for those who are tired. And the party members seem to feel sorry for them. They want to help the elderly and tired West, and to give it a chance to have rest from all of us, so if they are to take part ion the giveaway chess called ”elections”, they are ready. But maybe Lyabedzka and his supporters are tired? They are so tired that they consciously allow Lukashenka to win, and obediently waiting for their fate, like puppets in the theatre of Karabas Barabas, the evil puppeter. Or to be most exactly, they are waiting for a political decision. If it would be adopted, Yarmoshyna and Lazavik would write names of all the registered candidates, put the little papers into a hat, mix and take one of them with a name of a candidate at random, (for the elections to be fair). After that they would treat the candidate tenderly, affectionately saying: “Oh our little goldfish, our legitimate deputy, our ticket to Paris!..” And the poor thing would have to sit in a reservation, getting a ration from Lukashenka, and understanding he is one of them and cannot change anything. While Lukashenka would be shaking hands with Merkel, our deputy’s company would be Kastsyan at maximum. I think it is unequal substitution, to swop personal freedom for Kastsyan’s company.

By the way, about personal freedom. Anatol Lyabedzka stated that it would be more comfortable for him to go to the streets with a porter “Boycott!” and to spend 15 days in prison. And he was not saying about the things he doesn’t know. Lyabedzka was imprisoned in Akrestsin Street many times. And if it is really comfortable for him to be near a piss can, it is understandable why he is eager to get into the “chamber of representatives”. So you shouldn’t discourse upon the importance of the work with electorate. It’s a poor excuse.